He batted .258, scoring 35 people in that stretch. His on-base percentage was .306 and he scored 37 times.
This season, not only are there a couple major injuries, but also a missing piece in Jayson Werth(notes) has left a carousel of players in right field vying for the everyday position.
No doubt in such a long season, there will be more injuries, cold streaks, and adversity, so the Phillies will do best continuing to rely on the ol' skipper to guide them through.
Already this season, we've seen Manuel make adjustments to the lineup. Due to an injury to Chase Utley(notes), he moved Rollins down to third, and Victorino to lead off. His reasoning? Providing runs for Howard to drive home.
"The key to Howard is if we can have people on base in front of him," Manuel said. "People talk about who hits behind him. I think having runners on definitely makes a manager think a lot over there and also the pitcher on the mound, too. I think that's what's going to help Howard more than anything."
As far as the 'gap' left by Jayson Werth, Manuel will no doubt use to his full the array of outfielders he has at his disposal to fill in that spot, while using the rest of the lineup to pick up the offensive slack.
Despite what the Phils may encounter, they will always be in the race. Because not only do they have an awesome amount of talent in the pitching rotation—not only do they have a ton of experience in the everyday position players—but they also have brilliant baseball minds at the helm orchestrating.
Vincent Heck is a life long resident of the Philadelphia area, and is a Philadelphia sports freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter: @SH_Philadelphia
Sources:
Charlie Manuel tweaks opening-day lineups - Philly.com - Matt Gelb
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor.Sign up hereto start publishing your own sports content.
Got a sports argument?Challenge a friend and take 'em to the Grudge Judge!
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment